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X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class (stylized onscreen as X: First Class) is a 2011 American superhero film, based on the X-Men characters appearing in Marvel Comics. It is the fifth instalment in the X-Men film series. It is a prequel of the franchise and the first film of the X-Men prequel quadrilogy, the film was directed by Matthew Vaughn and produced by Bryan Singer. The story is set primarily in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and focuses on the relationship between Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), and Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and the origin of their groups—the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, respectively, as they deal with the Hellfire Club led by Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), who is bent on world domination. The film co-stars Rose Byrne, January Jones, and Oliver Platt. The film also introduces new actors to the series including Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence who, like McAvoy and Fassbender, reimagine popular characters from the franchise (Beast and Mystique) that were already established in the original trilogy. Plot In 1944, in a Nazi death camp, Nazi scientist Klaus Schmidt witnesses a young Erik Lehnsherr bend a metal gate with his mind when he is separated from his parents. In his office, Schmidt orders Lehnsherr to move a coin on his desk, and kills the boy's mother when Lehnsherr fails to do so. In grief and rage, Lehnsherr's magnetic power manifests, killing two guards and destroying the room. Meanwhile, at a mansion in Westchester County, New York, child telepath Charles Xavier meets young shapeshifter Raven, whose natural form is blue-skinned and scaly. Overjoyed to meet someone "different", like himself, he invites her to live with his family as his foster sister. In 1962, Lehnsherr is tracking down Schmidt, while Xavier graduates from the University of Oxford. In Las Vegas, CIA officer Moira MacTaggert follows U.S. Army Colonel Hendry into the Hellfire Club, where she sees Schmidt—now known as Sebastian Shaw—with mutant telepath Emma Frost, cyclone-producing Riptide, and teleporter Azazel. Threatened by Shaw and teleported by Azazel to the Joint War Room, Hendry advocates deployment of nuclear missiles in Turkey. Shaw, an energy-absorbing mutant whose powers have de-aged him, later kills Hendry. MacTaggert, seeking Xavier's advice on mutation, takes him and Raven to the CIA, where they convince Director McCone that mutants exist and Shaw is a threat. Another CIA officer sponsors the mutants and invites them to the secret "Division X" facility. MacTaggert and Xavier find Shaw as Lehnsherr is attacking him on his yacht, and rescue Lehnsherr from drowning, while Shaw escapes in a submarine. Xavier brings Lehnsherr to Division X, where they meet young scientist Hank McCoy, a mutant with prehensile feet, who believes Raven's DNA may provide a "cure" for their appearance. Xavier uses McCoy's mutant-locating device Cerebro to seek recruits against Shaw. Xavier and Lehnsherr recruit stripper Angel Salvadore, cabbie Armando Muñoz, Army prisoner Alex Summers, and runaway Sean Cassidy. When Frost meets with a Soviet general in the USSR, and uses her telepathic powers to pretend to have sex with him, Xavier and Lehnsherr capture Frost and discover that Shaw intends to start World War III that will trigger mutant ascendancy and the extinction of the human race. Azazel, Riptide and Shaw attack Division X, killing everyone but the mutants, whom Shaw invites to join him. Salvadore accepts; and when Summers and Muñoz retaliate, Shaw kills Muñoz. In Moscow, Shaw compels the general to have the USSR install missiles in Cuba. Wearing a helmet that blocks telepathy, Shaw follows the Soviet fleet in a submarine to ensure the missiles break a US blockade. Raven, thinking McCoy is attracted to her in her natural form, tells him not to use the cure. When she later attempts to seduce Lehnsherr by taking the forms of various women, Lehnsherr tells her she is beautiful as she is, in her natural mutant form. McCoy uses the cure on himself but it backfires, giving him blue fur and leonine aspects. With McCoy piloting, the mutants and MacTaggert take a jet to the blockade line, where Xavier uses his telepathy to influence a Soviet sailor to destroy the ship carrying the missiles, and Lehnsherr uses his magnetic power to lift Shaw's submarine from the water and deposit it on land. During the ensuing battle, Lehnsherr seizes Shaw's helmet, allowing Xavier to immobilize Shaw. Lehnsherr tells Shaw he shares Shaw's exclusivist view of mutants but, to avenge his mother, kills Shaw—over Xavier's objections—by forcing the Nazi coin from his childhood through Shaw's brain, causing massive pain to Xavier in the process. Fearing the mutants, both fleets fire missiles at them, which Lehnsherr turns back in mid-flight. MacTaggert tries to stop Lehnsherr by shooting him but he deflects the bullets, one of which hits Xavier in the spine. Lehnsherr rushes to help Xavier and, distracted, allows the missiles to fall harmlessly into the ocean. Parting with Xavier over their differing views on the relationship between mutants and humans, Lehnsherr leaves with Salvadore, Azazel, Riptide and Mystique. Later, a wheelchair-bound Xavier and his mutants are at the mansion, where he intends to open a school. MacTaggert promises never to reveal his location and they kiss. When they kiss, Xavier uses his powers and erases their memories from her mind. Elsewhere, Lehnsherr, now wearing Shaw's helmet, frees Frost from confinement and he then goes by the name : "Magneto". Cast * James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X ** Laurence Belcher as a young Charles Xavier * Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto ** Bill Milner as a young Erik Lehnsherr * Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme/Mystique ** Morgan Lily as a younger Raven Darkholme ** Rebecca Romijn as an older Raven Darkholme (uncredited) * Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw * Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert * Beth Goddard as Sharon Xavier * Oliver Platt as The Man in Black * Álex González as Janos Quested/Riptide * Jason Flemyng as Azazel * Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore * January Jones as Emma Frost * Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy/Beast * Lucas Till as Alex Summers/Havok * Caleb Landry Jones as Sean Cassidy/Banshee * Edi Gathegi as Armando Muñoz/Darwin * Corey Johnson as Chief Warden * Demetri Goritsas as Levene * Glenn Morshower as Colonel Robert Hendry * Don Creech as William Stryker Sr. * Matt Craven as CIA Director John McCone * Ludger Pistor as Pig Farmer * Wilfried Hochholdinger as Tailor * Rade Serbedzija as General Armivolkoff * James Faulkner as Swiss Bank Manager * Éva Magyar as Edie Lehnsherr * Annabelle Wallis as Amy * Gregory Cox as Dr. Leigh * Georg Nikoloff as Jakob Lehnsherr * Arthur Darbinyan as Aral Sea Captain * Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine (uncredited) Sequels X-Men: First Class was followed by two sequels: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). Gallery Trivia Category:X-Men Films Category:Marvel Category:2011